Baja Bytes – July 5, 2022
Que Pasa
Fishin For The Mission Dorado Tournament.
July 7th, 8th and 9th 2022
The Hotel Oasis de Loreto is the location for the sign ups Thursday night at the South end of the Malecón aka boardwalk in Loreto from 5-8 PM
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1574199182874541/
Tijuana Bull Ring
Not bad early, but it got breezy in the afternoon. The water is streaky with some red tide, but the fishing is pretty good where the water is warm and clean.
The best bet for the calico bass continues to be the anchovy (if you can get them) on a fly line or with a small split shot fished on a light line and a small hook – a size 4 is perfect. Set up just up-current from kelp, drop the anchor, and keep steady chumming. It should not take long to get a bite going. The odd seabass continue to show, but there is no volume. It’s more luck than anything else. Maybe try fishing with a live mackerel? There hasn’t been any word of yellowtail since last Saturday when the water turned over. However, it’s worth keeping an eye out for them as conditions recover…Fishdope.com
Coronado Islands / Rockpile
Yellowtail action slowed somewhat, but there is still good “mixed bag fishing” at the Islands right now. Water temps dropped slightly, slowing the bite, but some yellowtail are still caught. There are plenty of barracuda around; some are big fish getting up close to the 10-pound mark. The lee of South Island in the Ribbon Kelp area has been where boats found the most consistent bites, as well as at the Lighthouse Kelp, the 5 Minute Kelp, the SKR, and in the Middle Grounds. Calico bass might be the best biter right now, with plenty of nice bass in the Middle Islands’ boiler rock kelp areas and all of South Island’s kelp spots…Fishdope.com
Coronado Canyon / 371 / 425 / 475 Knuckle / Upper Finger Bank / Upper Hidden
Kelp paddy yellowtail, with increasing numbers of dorado, is the primary story throughout this zone now.
There are little signs of bluefin, although they aren’t biting; however, there are some big bonito. So it would not be surprising if yellowfin took the trolled feathers.
The yellowtail are mixed in size, from 3 to 6-pound firecrackers to some legit 8 to 12-pounders. Plus, the odd kelp will hold some straight 15 to 20-pounders.
The dorado are mostly little necktie-size fish running from 3 to 5-pounds.
There are bonito, too, and they are big! Most seem to be in the 6 to 10-pound class.
The bluefin appear to be from 30 to 100-pounders for the most part and are very difficult to get to bite. The yellowfin are 15 to 25-pounds and are almost all coming on blind jig stops.
Use spreader bars and MadMacs while hunting for kelp. Perhaps add one or two feathers into the trolling pattern for the yellowfin and jumbo bonito if you want one of them. Bonito this size are excellent eating! Just be sure and bleed them out right away and get them on ice as quickly as possible…Fishdope.com
Ensenada
After going through heavy fog, washing machine seas, windy, and high waves, we finally found fish that wanted to play. We caught 16 quality calico bass and a couple of nice sand bass on the Hookup Baits. We also released many bass to fight another day…Its 4 reels
West of Ensenada / Hidden Bank / Upper 500 / 295
The story here is that there is good fishing for kelp paddy yellowtail, big bonito, and a side order of bluefin. “Decent signs of bluefin down here,” a quote from one of our contacts. Not a wrong choice if you want to avoid the crowds out west. Of course, you must contend with the afternoon wind and seas coming back up the line after you finish.
Several sports boats on overnight and longer trips chose this option over the last couple of days.
Like up north, the tuna are not biting very well, if at all, but that is bluefin fishing.
Not just bluefin either. The kelp is also starting to hold better 6 to 20-pound yellowtail numbers. Many are under 10 pounds, but there are a few standouts up to 20 pounds on a few kelp. Much of the panga fleet out of Ensenada is here too.
The best bet, like up north, appears to be spreader bars and MadMacs for the pangas and private boaters.
Not a lot of interest in the fly line or sinker rig sardine for the sports boats. A few nighttime knife jig fish, though…Fishdope.com
San Quintin
k&m yellows on the surface iron n live bait…Cristian Catian
Bay of Los ángeles
Doc Mike and Winston were back for a second trip to BOLA. This time, there was a friend, Aska and Washington John. Bait has been tough to make. It’s there, but you need time to fill the tank. We only opted to fish with jigs, so we were on our way early. We used the Cudakilla Rankaru 160 gr., 190 gr., and 230 gr. fluorescent stripes on one side, seven-dot sardine on the other. It was game on! Most fish came on those jigs, BUT we also used the cyclops 220 gr., by Cudakilla. John liked those jigs and had them working for him. We had great, hot, muggy weather, flat seas, and wide-open fishing for the most part. Thank you, Doc, for the meds and all your help. Thank you, Doc Carlo. Those bluefin jigs will soon be in my hands. fishonnn&onnn…Juan Cook.
Baja Sur
Ascensión
A tremendous amount of bait in the inshore areas, as evidenced by the Tern-natos, Peli-canes, gobs of gulls, and copious Cormorants. All micro-stuff. Two eyes and a wiggle are about the extent of it. It looks like mostly anchovies…Ross Zoerhof
Loreto
It is shaping up to be a good dorado season in Loreto. Over the past four or five years, the waters near Loreto have been a nursery for dorado, with almost all fish caught weighing under ten pounds. Some specimens had a similar resemblance to rainbow trout in size and coloration. This year, the bigger, updated models have returned, and now we are seeing more 20-plus pound units. Where they have been is not well known due to the low numbers of boats searching the traditional spots. Maybe the holidays have put a crimp on that too. Live bait is in good supply, so things look great for dorados de Loreto! Gasoline supplies are not a problem here in Baja from the border down to Loreto. The gouging of gas prices did not translate down to Baja. We are paying around $5.00 a gallon…Rick Hill, Click Here
La Paz
MEXICAN MINUTE LA PAZ FISHING REPORT from Tailhunter Sportfishing for Week of June 25-July 1, 2022
East Cape
Fishing is red hot Limits of tuna, including this 70-pound bruiser and an excellent dorado kicker!! Get in the action at www.scorpionsportfishing.com
Fishing is good, guys! Life is great in East Cape; offshore, we have big schools of tuna and a good number of marlin. The roosterfish and many other species keep biting consistently along the coast. Wahoo is probably the only thing we are missing right now. The bait situation isn’t good, but it’s not a problem. We are making our own, and we can do it all with ballyhoo and squid! …Felipe Valdez
https://www.bdoutdoors.com/forums/threads/tuna-bite-wfo-in-east-cape.798915/
Puerto Los Cabos
The light summer crowds enjoyed settled the calmer weather patterns over the past week. Although next week, we will be following the path of Tropical Storm Bonnie, which is forecast to pass even farther off to the southwest than TS Celia did last week. It’s strange to see the name Bonnie though, since we already had the name Blas and then Celia. This latest system originated in the Atlantic basin, then crossed over, and is reforming over the Pacific.
Early in the week, after the port reopened on Monday, we had a few days of south winds, which contributed to cooling off and turning the water over some, as it was greenish in places; now, once again, we are seeing clarity improve. The most consistent action remains off the bottom and near shore for roosterfish and jacks. There was a mix of caballito, mullet, sardina, and anchoveta found for bait. Offshore there were schools of bollito encountered, which also made for great bait options.
The main bottom species being caught are amberjack, yellow snapper, barred pargo, African pompano, pargo colorado, leopard grouper, gulf grouper, and triggerfish. All are excellent eating. A few of the amberjack weighed up to 50 pounds.
The week’s highlight was a 290-pound yellowfin tuna landed off San Luis Bank while drift fishing with a live bollito for bait. Besides this one cow-sized tuna, we only saw a handful of other yellowfin, and all were under 30-pounds. Dorado were also very scarce, a few wahoo were accounted for, and although many additional strikes were missed, most were on the same bottom fishing grounds.
Billfish action was very scattered. We did see sailfish and striped marlin, but very few. It will not be long before we hear reports of blue and black marlin…Eric Brictson, Gordo Banks Pangas
Cabo San Lucas
Non-stop BIG Mahi (dorado) continue – Pisces 30′ Karina, with angler Sean Murray caught two dorado – including this 46.5-pounder and he released three striped marlin.
Pisces 62′ Chasin Tail angler, Ann Anderson had a spectacular day with another 45-pound dorado, two striped marlin released plus 30 yellowfin tuna. …Pisces Sportfishing
We haven’t seen dorado numbers like this in YEARS! A bull dorado over 40 pounds was landed. That’s at least one Big Bull a day for the past week!..Rebecca Ehrenberg
Angler Greg Foley celebrates his birthday by weighing in this bucket-list-sized Mahi/Dorado caught aboard Pisces 31′ Rebecca, which hit 44.5-pounds on the scale! Plus, along with his wife Jackie, he released a striped marlin.
That Baja Guy-Gary Graham
